warning: cute butt alert!

Okkay Arizona, we get it, it's stinking HOT! We've been struggling with how to entertain little Lia when we're home since it's so hot right now. We used to go outside at least twice a day - but now, it's boring indoors for us :(

However, when our lovely friend Tina came over recently, we brace ourselves and head outdoors. Lia loves to step on Daddy's sprinklers and attempt to break them - I mean, it's always fun to break Dad's things, right??

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I had to capture her butt shot. She's gonna hate me one day, huh??

sweetness

We've been getting into the swing of things here are home. Siena has been getting her fluffy butt covered of fluff. More cloth diapers pictures are definitely to come :)

Cecilia has still been transitioning really well - it's so sweet to see her love on little Siena (then push her away after her sweet kisses - can't have TOO much love!).

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another day

Life is moving right along. At the Lord's pace, at His will, with His doing. I am attempting to surrender to where He is leading Mike and our family and me. I can't wait to see the adventures and the wonders He will show to us through the eyes of our children, our friends, our families and our community.

So grateful to be a mother... and so grateful to be the wife of an incredible man and father. If it weren't for Mike - his patience and his love, we wouldn't be the family we are today.

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A really amazing blog that I find incredibly inspiring, is written by a married woman with two kids (who wear cloth diapers!) who is an incredibly talented photographer and life-liver. She has this series, called the Monthly Shot, where she shoots both her kids together every month. Thanks to Christina Lafferty (who also took the above photo), an incredible friend and photographer, we got the first shot when Siena was just a few days old:

"Feel the ground against my back, counting stars against the black... thinking bout another day." ~dmb

creation

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"We were created in such a way that music erupts from us when we are squeezed. Whether it is a violent wringing or love's embrace, song drips out. So sing with all your might. Paint with fury. Write words noisy with color. Dance. Dance until we can see your soul." ~dcb

out of order

These posts are a bit out of order - kind of like life these days. Trying to find the order in the chaos is the story of my life. 

Anyway, these are the pics from the day we brought Siena home - where Lia introduced Siena to life in our house. She met her at the hospital, where she said "Welcome to the world!" by hitting her in the face.

Only sisterly love, right?

Without further ado, here are my girls making nice :)

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"I felt your heart so close to mine, and I knew our joy would fill the earth and last till the end of time. ~Leona Lewis

Siena's first cloth diaper

Mike and I had Siena on a Tuesday, then he left for a week for a couple gigs with the band. While he was gone, my mom most generously stayed here with Lia and me and helped us out.

It took a couple days of adjusting, but soon we got into a routine, and life went smoothly. My mom was a cleaning machine - taking it upon herself to clean some nooks and crannies. We had a lot of fun together for that week... and again, her generosity to come and take care of us and help out our family is overwhelming. And to my dad - who most graciously gave up his wife for a WHOLE WEEK... he deserves a huge bear hug a hundred times over.

Our great friend, Christina Lafferty, made her way over to snap some photos of our little temporary family in action. Go check out that link to see her Facebook page with newborn shots of Siena as well :)

It was so much fun to have my mom here - especially how much Lia came to love on her and want to be with her all the time. It was definitely such a treat to see.

Right when my mom left, I had to do what I had been waiting and waiting and waiting to do... cloth diaper!!

I couldn't wait to put Siena's first cloth diaper on... and the very first one was an XS Fuzzibunz Pocket Diaper! All courtesy of Alyssa, one of my co-workers from Zoolikins. 

It was sooo stinking cute! Look for yourself ;)

This is definitely the first diaper I felt the most comfortable with... I have prefolds, contours, covers, and OS diapers. This is a sized pocket diaper (meaning it fits during a certain size range of baby) and fits babies from 4-12 lbs. This diaper literally just goes on and off just like a disposable - but with snaps! It's seriously the cutest thing ever, and fits her so snugly. We haven't had any leaks with this diaper, and it's pretty awesome.

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I had to snap a family portrait, sans me, because cloth diapers + Mike + Cecilia + Siena = all my heart's desires :)

"Twist your head around, it's all around you... all is full of love, all around you." ~death cab

pre-Siena family time

A couple weeks before we had Siena, we went to my parents - and I can't for the life of me remember what it was for! Whatever, here are some pics of Lia and her sweet cousins, Anisa and Pablo.

Anisa is posing for me ;)

The sweet Pablo!

Too much fun in her life.

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Climbing on the glass table - what a feat.

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." ~Helen Keller

the day siena was born

The contraction woke me up at 6am.

I woke up and waited for a couple more to come to make sure I hadn't dreamt it. They felt real.

I decided to let not wake up Mike because I knew one of two things would happen:

1) He wouldn't believe me, roll back over, and go back to sleep, leaving me alone with excitement and anticipation. or,

2) He would get SO excited that he wouldn't sleep and waste precious hours of rest that we would soon not have the luxury of.

I texted my mom that I was having contractions and to be ready, as she was going to be watching Lia while we were at the hospital.

Jumped in the shower, then was too excited from the contractions that I had to tell Mike (I forgot about the wanting him to sleep part). I told him that we were going to have Siena today, and that I was going to take a walk around the neighborhood. I wanted to have Siena that same day, because that would give us three full days together before Mike had to leave for a gig in St. Louis with the band for seven days.

Headed out for my walk.

The weather surprisingly wasn't killing me at 6am, and I remember being grateful for the slight breeze that I was blessed with during my fast-paced-I'm-getting-this-baby-out walk. I couldn't wait to go home and see Cecilia - my baby girl, who, within a day, wouldn't be the baby girl any more. She would be my Big Girl, the Big Sister, the Big Helper, the Big Etc, Etc. As much in excitement I was for Siena's arrival, it was definitely the ending of something with my precious baby - it wasn't just the two of us, but our world would be changed.

So, I made it home... 

The contractions during the walk were about two within every song that I was listening to on my phone... and I still felt really good. Walking through them really helped so much - I felt on top of the world, even knowing that those were pretty close together. 

Home is where Mike was making breakfast for Cecilia, so I walked in to a bright, smiling face greeting me. She's so sweet. 

I had to snap some pictures of her and me because I have NO pics of us while I was pregnant! Thank you to photographer Mike for the shots of Lia and me. But first, Lia had to boogie. And I had to capture it:

After this I got up and continued to pace around the house, as walking felt so good still. I called my mom and told her to get ready to head down soon. We remembered the 5-1-1 rule in regards to contractions (every 5 minutes, 1 minute long, for 1 hour). I was past that part - we were at every 3 minutes for 1 minute for past an hour. I began to get more serious - and of course, anticipation eating away at me - called my mom again and told her to ACTUALLY head down (from North Scottsdale). Since she was about twenty minutes away, and I wanted to leave NOW (because I'm impatient), we called our good buddy Ross... well, actually, we called Ike, who lives with Ross, to wake up Ross, to come watch Lia. He's her [almost] favorite babysitter.

We headed to Chandler Regional.

My one goal with this labor was that I get to the hospital after I passed the 3cm mark. During labor with Cecilia, I was at a standstill at 3cm for FOREVER... so I just wanted to pass that goal line.

...They checked me, and I was at 5cm! I was so excited!! I felt like we accomplished something! And I felt even better about giving birth naturally, that I had passed the point where I had gotten an epidural with Cecilia.

Only 5cm to go... this should be sooo easy... right??

...little did I know!

Here's a short vid at around 9:55am that Mike took of us at the hospital.

After about an hour and a half of lots of fun "rushes" (not "pain"!), it was time for me to push. 

11:52am Two pushes... and Siena was out.

Insanity.

I got to hold Siena immediately after having her, per my birth plan, as keeping her really close to me instead of her being whisked away was really important to both Mike and me.

I was basically sitting there, holding our new baby girl, in complete shock. I couldn't believe what just happened. I felt slightly light-headed and overwhelmed. I just pushed a baby out without any drugs or anything.

I looked down at Siena in utter amazement and glanced at Mike who had tears in his eyes at the feat we just conquered.

Siena Clare Guizar

June 21, 2011

Born at 11:52am

7 lbs 10 oz (same as her Sissy ;) )

20 inches

This was such a beautiful day for Mike and me - we set a goal and accomplished that together. It was an incredible amount of hard work, determination and love... and we did it. Our beautiful baby girl was born, and that was the most important thing. 

Love is not even close to say our emotion as to what our beautiful family has turned into. The blessings the Lord has given to us are literally beyond my imagination. I am so grateful, beyond words, for what we've been given.

To readers: Thank you for this patience in this post - for your prayers, for your support, and for your love. 

Now on to the ever-coveted sleep, gotta catch it while I can ;)

"On the day that you were born the angels got together and decided to create a dream come true."